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Dr. Karve taught us that an animals gut takes fresh food and converts it to methane gas much more efficiently than trying to make methane gas from spent food (manure). We have been developing a 5 gallon tabletop methane digester. This unit runs on kitchen scraps run through a blender to make a slurry, and is a continuous digester. It uses two 5 gallon plastic pails for the digester and gas collector, and the supercooker consists of a 5 gallon metal pail with a methane burner in the bottom and a metal stockpot inserted like a crockpot. It not only cooks from the bottom, but from the sides as well. A lot more heat from less methane. We will be adding this info to our existing methane digester package at http://www.green-trust.org/products/, and early documentation will be available to those who help with the development progress. If you donate $5 at http://www.green-trust.org/wordpress/why-donate-to-green-trust/ (put methane supercooker in the notes), we will send you updates, and the completed plans and video’s.

We are offering a series of bio-methane (Gobar Gas) articles written by Al Rutan, The Methane Man. These articles are offered at no cost to anyone who asks. They cover the reason to bio-digest, the methods, and ways to use methane instead of propane or petroleum based natural gas. Go to http://www.green-trust.org/freebooks/ to download your free tutorial.

Send a link to this post to all your address book buddies, twitter and facebook friends, so that they too can learn about an environmentally clean renewable fuel that can be made at home.

For those who need more, we have a 3 hour video instructional download by Al Rutan. It covers in depth methane biodigestion, and usage, for $30

ARTI has developed a compact biogas plant which uses waste food rather than dung/manure as feedstock, to supply biogas for cooking. The plant is sufficiently compact to be used by urban households, and about 2000 are currently in use – both in urban and rural households in Maharashtra. A few have been installed in other parts of India and even elsewhere in the world. The design and development of this simple, yet powerful technology for the people, has won ARTI the Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy 2006 in the Food Security category. This makes ARTI the only organization in the world to win the prestigious Ashden Award twice. ARTI won its first Ashden Award in 2002 for its chain of technologies for converting agricultural waste into charcoal, and using this as a clean domestic fuel.

The impending scarcity of petroleum threatens the world’s fuel supply. Mankind can face this threat successfully with the help of biogenous methane, but the world is yet to take full advantage of this technology, because its practitioners have so far ignore the basic tenet of science – viz. output of work is dependent on the energy available for doing that work. This fact is seen in the current practice of using low calorie inputs like cattle dung, distillery effluent, municipal solid waste or sewerage, in biogas plants, which makes methane generation highly inefficient. To rectify this skewed approach, in around 2003, Dr. Anand Karve (President of ARTI) developed a compact biogas system that uses starchy or sugary feedstock (waste grain flour, spoilt grain, overripe or misshapen fruit, nonedible seeds, fruits and rhizomes, green leaves, kitchen waste, leftover food, etc). Just 2 kg of such feedstock produces about 500 g of methane, and the reaction is completed with 24 hours. The conventional biogas systems, using cattle dung, sewerage, etc. use about 40 kg feedstock to produce the same quantity of methane, and require about 40 days to complete the reaction. Thus, from the point of view of conversion of feedstock into methane, the system developed by Dr. Anand Karve is 20 times as efficient as the conventional system, and from the point of view of reaction time, it is 40 times as efficient. Thus, overall, the new system is 800 times as efficient as the conventional biogas system.

We received plans and descriptions of Al’s methane digesters and the process of anaerobic digestion from Al’s family. Video’s are also coming soon. articles will be posted shortly at http://discuss.green-trust.org and the video’s and documentation will be available on CD for a nominal fee, the proceeds going to building Al’s methane digesters for off-grid communities. Woodhenge will be one of the first recipients of a Al Rutan digester. More info will be posted once the video tapes are converted to cd, and the documents scanned, ocr’d, and regenerated as PDF’s.

The following articles will be published to our websites this weekend, time permitting:

I have some News to pass onto all the friends of Al Rutan, who many of you know as methaneman2002.

Al has been staying with us the past few months while we work out his small scale digestor and while we build our full sized digestor. The Photos that he has posted showing his small scale digestor are taken in our yard and my son “the welder” is in some of them.

The news is that Al has passed away.

Al passed away of natural causes, no accident, no struggle. He seems to have been making a meal and collapsed on the bed and died. He had moved into our house to ride out the cold weather and work his computer and video equipment. His “Kitty” is a bit confused but well cared for and we have a close friend of Al that will gladly give the kitty a new home.

He had many contacts around the world and since we will not be able to contact each of you directly I felt this was about the best way to get the word out all of his “energy friends”.

We have been able to reach his family so there is no need for any worry in that respect but there have been no formal arrangements made for any memorial/funeral services at this point. If I learn of any public services I will post them here for all you to see.

This renewable energy was his passion, or at least one of his many passions, so I would ask that we all step up and continue his progress forward in this department, and remember “Home Grown is Best”.

Thanks to you all,

Woody

Al’s family has scheduled a memorial service for Al at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church on Monday, January 24, at 11 a.m. The address for St. Joan’s is 4537 Third Ave. S; Minneapolis; 612-823-8205. Fr. George is in charge.

We have been involved with Bio Methane digestion for about a decade or so, and we were honored to work with Al Rutan, The Methane Man for several years before he died. By no means am I a methane guru, but I have friends who are. I’d like to introduce “The Complete Biogas Handbook“, by David William House.

Reviews by Experts

“Hoo BOY, is it complete! …So lots of the numbers you need are here, and many hard-won tips are shown from often bitter experience.… The book’s main value is in showing how to do things that have been glossed over or ignored in other books, such as burning methane in a gasoline engine. If biogas interests you enough to consider making a generator, this book is your next assignment.”

J. Baldwin, The Next Whole Earth Catalog

“This readable book provides a comprehensive survey of the theory and practice of biogas production. The author discusses the scientific terms used, the substances (such as manure and plant matter) which can produce biogas, and various types of biogas generators.”

Mother Earth News

“House… has written a thorough introduction not only to biogas plants but to the ancillary problems such as gas utilization, engine/generator interfacing, refrigeration, and similar topics.”

Alternative Sources of Energy

“…bringing together material of importance that has hitherto been spread far and wide.”

Steve Smyser, Organic Gardening

“I ordered your book several months ago and have been very excited to find one single source with so much great information in it. It is, without a doubt, the best book out there on small digesters! Bravo, sir! I am currently writing a fact-sheet on micro-digesters and their potential for sustainable farms in the U.S., and your book will be at the top of the recommended reading section.”

We received plans and descriptions of Al’s methane digesters and the process of anaerobic digestion from Al’s family. Video’s are also coming soon. articles will be posted shortly at http://discuss.green-trust.org and the video’s and documentation will be available on CD for a nominal fee, the proceeds going to building Al’s methane digesters for off-grid communities. Woodhenge will be one of the first recipients of a Al Rutan digester. More info will be posted once the video tapes are converted to cd, and the documents scanned, ocr’d, and regenerated as PDF’s.

The following articles will be published to our websites this weekend, time permitting:

Jean Pain – A French innovator who developed a compost based bio energy system that produced 100% of his energy needs. He heated water to 60 degrees Celsius at a rate of 4 liters a minute which he used for washing and heating. He also produced enough methane to run an electricity generator, cooking elements, and power his truck. This method of creating usable energy from composting materials has come to be known as Jean Pain Composting, or the Jean Pain Method.

Where do you go to ask questions, and talk with others about renewable energy topics? We have a series of discussion groups on a variety of topics related to living off grid, solar energy, rain water harvesting, and more:

12VDC_Power – We’re here to discuss 12VDC alternative power systems for off-grid homes, whether off-grid by choice or necessity. We’ll talk about any type of generation — wind, solar, hydro or whatever. And, we’ll also discuss storage and distribution systems for 12 VDC. And, not to eliminate anyone, we’ll gladly talk about 24 and 48 volt DC systems too. Our planet is rapidly running out of fossil fuels, and the pollution from those is destroying our environment. It’s time to utilize renewable energy and that’s why our group is here.

AlRutanMethane – This is a working group dedicated to developing methane digesters. This work was started by Al Rutan, The Methane Man.

AxialFlux – This group is dedicated to the Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Alternator, as designed by Hugh Piggott, with additional development by Dan Fink and Dan Bartmann of Otherpower, Steve Spence of Green-Trust and Jim Juczak of Woodhenge. This alternator uses rotating magnets and a fixed stator with handwound 3 phase coils. This design is applicable to wind, water, engine, even human and animal power.

DIYSolar – Home of the DIY Solar Install Guide This is a support group for those who want to install their own solar power system. There is an ebook, “DIY Solar Install Guide”, found at http://www.green-trust.org/ebooks/. The eBook tells how to install your own solar power system. Includes tips on siting the panels, battery maintenance, and sizing a system.

DIY_Generator – This is a working group for home built generators and battery chargers for off-grid applications. We discuss instrumentation, smart charging, inverters and battery banks, and other off-grid components. The results of this group has been distilled into an eBook.

DIYVeggieDiesel – This is a support group for those who want to convert their diesels to run on vegetable oil.

HPWD – The discussion of any type of equipment or transportation using human muscles, usually leg muscles with cranks and chains. This includes generators, mills, drills, presses, boats, planes, and land vehicles. If a human muscle powers it, it’s on topic.

LogHomeTalk – Over time we have become a small log home community, separated only by distance we have become friends. We share a common goal of wanting to live in a log home. We also share the joy and pain of reaching that goal.

RainWater – A group dedicated to harvesting rain water as our source of water for household and garden needs. Water collection, purification, and storage will be discussed. Cistern construction, water conservation, system sizing and other topics are welcomed. Photo, Diagrams, and instructional material can be found in the files and photo’s section. Members may list photo’s of their installations. Links to other helpful sites are found in the links section. Grey water recycling is most pertinent, as are any topics that promote water conservation and non-aquifer depletion water sources like distillation of dew or sea water.

Resource_Conservation – Discuss tips for conserving energy and resources, and using it more efficiently. Download the guide from the files section.

SimplyOffGrid – This is for people who want to live off grid, at the same time, want to keep it simple as possible. If you are like minded, then you are welcome to join! We are all here to help each other out and to learn from common experience and research. Please post your links and research here so we can all glean from it. Book reviews are great too! Please share your experience, links, research and any tried and true ideas with us!! We share ours!

This week we are giving away our Methane/Propane Generator Conversion eBook to every one who buys the Methane Digester Video. Take advantage of this offer to learn how to make biodigested fuel, and how to use it to make free electricity.

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